Revellers gather early for New Year's Eve celebrations

Huge crowds gather for New Year's Eve celebrations as famed Sydney Harbour Bridge is set to explode in colour.

31 Dec 2016 20:46 GMT

Early arrivals claim prime positions to watch fireworks in front of the Sydney Opera House [Jason Reed/Reuters]

Thousands of revellers gathered at first light along Sydney's harbour foreshore in advance of the city's New Year's Eve fireworks, while countries across the Asia Pacific region are planning some very different celebrations for the start of 2017.

The most sought-after vistas from peninsulas around Sydney's iconic Opera House are now ticketed, and hundreds slept out in queues overnight to get the best spots when gates opened on Saturday morning.

In other areas around the harbour, people started setting up tents on Friday, before dawn.

Spectators tripods are lined up at Lady Macquarie's Chair ready for the annual New Years Eve fireworks display [AP Photo/Rob Griffith]

Around one and a half million people are expected to pack the Australian city's harbour area to see 7m Australian dollars ($5m) worth of fireworks go up in smoke at midnight (13:00 GMT on Saturday).

Organisers are promising the biggest show ever with more than 100,000 fireworks being set off.

In New Zealand, one of the first countries to bring in the New Year, Max Key, the son of the former prime minister John Key will DJ as five minutes of fireworks go up from Auckland's Sky Tower.

A Chinese man prays to celebrate on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year at the Hea Tek Tunk Chinese Temple to mark the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese calendar [AP/Sakchai Lalit]

The Pacific country's capital, Wellington, will also put on fireworks and music at an inner-city lagoon.

In Thailand, fireworks have been banned from New Year's celebrations after the government decreed a one-year mourning period for the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in October aged 88.

But as the year ticks over, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to jointly sing a New Year song composed by Bhumibol himself, followed by the royal anthem.

Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks director Fortunato Foti (left) posing with family members on a barge in front of the Harbour Bridge [AFP]

In Sydney, police have assured the public there are no known threats to the festivities, but for the first time, buses will be used to block roads leading to the pedestrian zones to prevent truck attacks, such as those in Berlin and Nice.

Up to a billion people are expected to tune in to the city's celebrations around the world, with the fireworks set to be streamed live via Facebook and YouTube for the first time ever.